When we step into Saria Stove Depot, a nondescript kitchen and cookware store squeezed between two shops in Lohar Chawl, we realise what Thomas Zacharias, executive chef at The Bombay Canteen, meant when he captioned a click on Instagram as ‘Definitely a lesson in space management to be learnt here’. The popular chef was on his quarterly visit to the store, two weeks back. While over 50 types of ladles hang from the ceiling, fondue and barbeque sets, blow torches, blenders, processors, piping bags, dimsum baskets, moulds, weighing scales, copper pots and pans, ceramic crockery and glassware vie with each other for space on the packed shelves in the tiny shop, currently managed by fourth generation owner Aliasgar Saria. “My great grandfather started the shop by stocking Petromax lamps and stoves. Today, apart from refrigerators and ovens, we sell everything that a restaurant kitchen requires, including specialty knives from Japanese and German brands. Practically, every city chef has dropped by at least once,” says Saria, while attending to a chef who’s flown down from Goa to pick up a variety of baking equipment, some of which will be procured from other merchant traders that the store works with.

A photograph of a wall lined with kitchen tools at Lohar Chawl’s Saria Stove Depot, posted by chef Thomas Zacharias on Instagram